Is It Worth It?

So tomorrow, Oregon's votes get counted -- nationally, regionally, locally. A lot of interesting races will get completed (or continued). And some mildly important issues will be decided -- or at least will be signposts to the future.

And as is almost always the case during elections, I think about my dearly-loved nephew. This guy is bright, funny, creative, good-looking, and has one of the tenderest hearts I've ever known (suitably cloaked in a Bluff-Guy Exterior) -- but he doesn't vote.

Furthermore, he practically brags about not voting. When I call him on it, he says things like, "They're all (expletive deleted)," or "There's no difference between one pile of (use your imagination) and another."

No, really, I stand by my statement that he's bright. He just doesn't see the point in voting, and he makes no connection between a vote and what happens in his life. And he's not alone -- I remember being in a get-out-the-vote event a few years back that involved a street parade, and talking with some young folks on the sidelines who had the same attitude -- why take the trouble, it's all a racket, etc.

This troubles me deeply. It's not that I don't have my share of cynicism about our government (local and national), and it's not that political parties don't bring on waves of nausea for me far too often -- but I still believe we need to do our best to weigh in on the issues and candidates -- to learn a bit about how government works, because it's MY government. It does things for me and I'd like to be one of a few million hands tugging on the steering wheel to move it in the direction I think is correct.

Government is not the problem -- it's a reflection of us. Where it is venal and self-serving, we have been so, too. But where it is full of hard-working men and women who grind through meetings and bang gavels on podiums and sweat out statutory language in committee rooms, they are reflecting US -- our commitment, our caring, our priorities. And the only way I can make it stand for what I care about is to speak up, participate -- and vote. Not just sit on my duff and change the channel.